In a report by Tom Sullivan (Health Care Finance News, February 16, 2012), Christopher Chute, MD, who chairs the ICD-11 Revision Steering Group, warned of a possible delay for completion of ICD-11 from 2015 to 2016.

ICD-11 Beta Information
WHO will engage with interested stakeholders to participate in the ICD revision process.

Individuals will be able to:

Make comments
Make proposals to change ICD categories
Participate in field trials
Assist in translating

May 2015

Present the ICD-11 to the World Health Assembly

Slipping timelines

The revision of ICD-10 and development of the structure for ICD-11 began in 2007.

The original dissemination date for ICD-11 had been 2012, with the timelines for the revisions of ICD-10 and DSM-IV running more or less in parallel. Sources: Archive documents [1] [2].

Very early on in the revision process, the ICD-11 dissemination date was extended from 2012 to 2015, with pilot implementation in 2014.

In order to be ready for global implementation in 2015, the technical work on ICD-11 would need to be completed by 2012. Source: Dr Geoffrey Reed, Ph.D., personal correspondence.

In mid 2009, a tentative timeline had the Alpha draft scheduled for completion by May 2010; a “Beta I” by May 2011; a “Beta II” by May 2012, when field trials would commence; submission to WHA in 2014, for implementation from January 2015. Source: Tentative Timeline, PowerPoint Presentation: Robert Jakob/Bedirhan Üstün, June 2009 [3].

By September 2010, it was evident from ICD Revision meeting materials that targets for the population of content and the development of software had slipped; the Alpha drafting stage was running significantly behind schedule and an interactive Beta drafting platform looked unlikely to be ready for release by May 2011.

In early 2011, ICD Revision and WHO-FIC were discussing the pros and cons of postponing the launch of an interactive Beta platform until later in the year or until May 2012, and whether an interim solution might be to launch “a hybrid model of opening the revision process to public comment and suggestions at the same time not a full scale beta phase with field trials…”

In July 2011, this platform was opened up to professionals and other interested stakeholders who can register via the site for fuller access and for reading and submitting comments and suggestions. See the ICD-11 Alpha Browser User Guidefor information on how the Browser functions and for registering for increased access. (This is presumably the Alpha/Beta “hybrid” referred to in the WHO-FIC Council report.)

ICD-11 Revision and Topic Advisory Groups are continuing to use a separate platform for drafting purposes.

According to the current ICD-11 Timeline, the Beta drafting platform has been rescheduled for May 2012. It isn’t known whether drafting and software is sufficiently advanced to meet this target.

Stakeholder participation at the Beta stage

In preparation for the Beta drafting stage, another publicly viewable platform is being developed. According to presentations, this platform will invite and support a higher level of professional and stakeholder interaction with the drafting process, with various levels of input and editing authority for interested stakeholders who register for participation. According to editing status, registered stakeholders would be permitted to:

Make commentsMake proposals to change ICD categoriesParticipate in field trialsAssist in translating

With the Alpha and Beta stages already running a couple of years behind the 2009 targets, it’s not clear how much time can now be allocated for the Beta drafting phase or for the ICD-11 field trials – if the implementation date of 2015 is going to be met. I would not be surprised if at some point in the coming months, ICD Revision announces further delays for the Beta stage and an extension of the target implementation date to 2016+.

I will update when ICD Revision issues further information on the readiness of the Beta Drafting platform and its intentions for the extent of public participation.

The content below is ARCHIVED timeline related material

Update @ July 30, 2010

The ICD Revision iCamp2 meeting which was scheduled for April and for which a copy of the Agenda is still available was evidently postponed. ICD-11 Revision Google site gives the revised meeting date as:

27 September – 1 October 2010 for iCAMP2

According to sources, a print version of the ICD-11 Alpha Draft is now expected to made available around the time that iCamp2 takes place. No Agenda is available yet for this September meeting. The ICD-11 Beta Draft is timetabled for May 2011.

Minutes of the iCamp2 and Revision Steering Group (RSG) Meetings held in April have not yet been published.

A summary report of the International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders meeting which took place over nine months ago, on 28-29 September 2009, has yet to be published.

A print version “snapshot” of the ICD-11 alpha draft, as it stood at that point, was presented to the Sixty-third World Health Assembly held 17–21 May 2010, Geneva, Switzerland.

ICD Revision Steering Group has issued no news release or update on whether or when it intends to publicly release an alpha draft, whether is intends to engage the public in any form of review process and if so, what the feedback mechanism for public contribution will be.

It is understood that some organisations, institutions and professional bodies have been invited to submit proposals for specific ICD chapters and that some organisations, for example, the American Psychological Association, are working on submissions via a joint proposal form for ICD-11 Chapter 5 (Topic Advisory Group for Mental and behavioural disorders) and Chapter 6 (Topic Advisory Group for Neurology) but it remains unclarified which stakeholders in the development process might make use of these forms [1].

“WHO will consider endorsement of the alpha draft, after all concerns of RSG and the Classification TAGs have been duly taken into account. The alpha draft is a frozen state of development of the ICD-11 that will include a large part of the structural changes, and the majority of the definitions. The Alpha draft will be produced in a traditional print and electronic format. The Alpha Draft will also include a Volume 2 containing the traditional sections and including a section about the new features of ICD-11 in line with the style guide. An index for print will be available in format of sample pages. A fully searchable electronic index using some of the ontological features will demonstrate the power of the new ICD.”

It is not clear from the “Project milestones and budget, and organizational overview” table at what point this stage might be reached. There is no comprehensive timeline posted on the WHO main website or the ICD Revision site and there has been no response to enquiries left on ICD Revision Facebook site.

Latest information from the ICD Revision site on the release of the ICD-11 Alpha Draft is for a launch between 10 and 17 May. [Source: Agenda iCamp2 and Revision Steering Group (RSG) Meetings, Geneva, Switzerland, 19-23 April 2010.]

A June 2009 PowerPoint presentation by Dr Robert Jakob (Medical Officer, Classifications and Terminologies, WHO, Geneva) set out a timeline for ICD-11 and can be download here: ICD Revision Process [PDF format 1.33 MB]

ICD-11 alpha draft will be ready by 10 May 2010
ICD-11 beta draft will be ready by 10 May 2011
ICD final draft will be submitted to WHA by 2014

According to documents [1] and [2], the original dissemination date for ICD-11 had been 2012, with the timelines for the revisions of ICD-10 and DSM-IV running more or less in parallel. By 2008, the completion date for ICD-11 had been extended to 2014. In December 2009, the APA announced that it was shifting its publication date for DSM-5 to May 2013. APA News Release No. 09-65